Mamdani-backed democratic socialists score major wins in New York primaries

Zohran Mamdani-backed candidates won all three New York City congressional primaries he endorsed on June 23, a sweep that knocked out two incumbents and put three allies on course for the general election in districts Democrats are expected to hold. Claire Valdez beat Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in New York’s 7th Congressional District, Darializa Avila Chevalier defeated five-term Rep. Adriano Espaillat in New York’s 13th District, and Brad Lander topped Rep. Dan Goldman in New York’s 10th District.

The Associated Press said the victories came in deep-blue districts and likely set up three Mamdani allies to enter Congress in January. For Mamdani, the endorsements were a direct test of whether his political rise in New York City could be converted into an electoral machine beyond the mayor’s office. He cast the effort as a push for “better Democrats” who would “put working people back at the heart of politics.”

The sharpest upset came in Upper Manhattan, where Avila Chevalier, 32, a Democratic Socialists of America member, community organizer and Ph.D. student, unseated Espaillat, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus. NBC News said that with 88% of the expected vote tallied, Avila Chevalier led by less than 4 points, and that Espaillat’s loss made him the sixth House incumbent to lose renomination in the 2026 cycle.

Her campaign leaned heavily on criticism of Israel and AIPAC, a posture that reflected the issue terrain Mamdani has used to define his own political coalition. POLITICO described her as a pro-Palestinian activist, underscoring how the New York left has fused ideology with a disciplined message on foreign policy, housing and labor politics. Valdez’s win over Reynoso and Lander’s defeat of Goldman extended that pattern beyond one district and into multiple corners of the city’s Democratic electorate.

Local reporting also showed DSA-backed candidates winning additional state legislative races the same night, widening the picture beyond the congressional map. Taken together, the results gave Mamdani a string of victories across New York City and showed that the Democratic Socialists of America now has candidates winning not just protest contests, but primaries against sitting power brokers in some of the city’s safest Democratic seats.